As its eyes dimmed, I slapped it with the blunt and flat side of my blade, waking it up for just a split second as it was knocked to the side.

I raised my knee and looked at the minotaur straight between the eyes before slamming my foot down, denting its entire skull.

It died instantly, blood spurting from every orifice in its body.

But I wasn’t done yet as the quest hadn’t been completed, so I repeatedly slashed and stomped on the monster’s corpse until it was unrecognizable, leaving the entire colosseum speechless.

“Ugh… I got blood stains on my only shirt,” I muttered disappointingly before gazing up at the panel now floating above.

.

You have completed the Side Quest: Colosseum Match One

Reward has been granted

The next Side Quest will be revealed once ready

.

All of a sudden, purple lights began to float off of my body as if they were dancing fairies wanting to stay near me.

One, two, three, four, and then the last one, five, began to swirl like a vortex around me, eventually growing close to the crown of my head.

They inserted each other into my skull without much feeling for some strange reason. It was only as if my head was being massaged by a very harsh and inexperienced masseuse.

There were no changes to my status, nor were there any changes to my physical body, so I decided to just shrug it off and let the incoming knights clad in dark armor chain me up and bring me back to my cell.

Each and every single person present in prison was silent as they stalked me with their disgustingly sharp eyes.

The guards would inform the prisoners about the state of the matches, and I would assume they did that for my match as well.

Idiots…

…

Another few days had passed, and I was finally brought out for my next match, receiving yet another side quest, but this time it was a bit different.

.

Side Quest: Colosseum Match Two

Description: Utterly destroy your opponent in this next match in order to reveal to the opposing settlers that you didn’t come here to play around. Strike fear into the hearts of everybody watching and make sure your opponent doesn’t come back with his sanity intact.

Reward: Skill Book – Tarot: Undying Will𝒐𝓋𝓁xt.𝗇𝓔t

Penalty Upon Failure: Death

Time Left: 30 Minutes

.

The reward this time was different and looked to be a bit juicer than my past one, so I was so ready to just complete this match… but it seemed like it wasn’t going to be as easy as I initially thought it would be.

As I walked into the center of the dusty colosseum, breathing in the smell of blood stains and death, I looked across the arena to see who I would be facing.

His horns were probably as long as mine, and he wielded two massive machetes with his beefy seven-foot build.

His skin was a light purple, meaning he was part succubus or incubus, so I had to watch out for any illusion or mind attacks that came directly at me.

Succubi and Incubi may be known as the whores of the monster world, but just like every other monster, they’re terrifying and use attacks that are unknown to most people since the strongest ones don’t let anybody survive.

“I wonder how he’s still alive though,” I muttered to myself. “Maybe he’s just drinking blood?”

Suddenly, the monster raised one of his swords in a badass way, pointing it directly at me, clearly wanting to start the match soon.

“AND IT SEEMS BOTH CHALLENGERS ARE READY! WE HAVE THE MAN WHO SLAUGHTERED A MINOTAUR WITHIN SECONDS! AND THEN! ON THE LEFT! WE HAVE THE FAMOUS DUAL WIELDER OF SWORDS! WHO KNOWS WHAT WILL HAPPEN!” The announcer screamed into his microphone.

As his voice pumped adrenaline through the surrounding demi-humans, my eyes and senses realized a few stronger demons were in the crowd.

“I guess I’ll try then,” I smiled before raising my hand into the air whilst the announcer began to count down the beginning of this bloody match.

“AND BEGINNNNNNNNNNNN!”

FWOOSH FWOOSH

Suddenly, the monster threw both of its swords at me, which went outwards but then curled in towards me, nearly shaving off my hair while the user dashed forward.

He then pulled his arms back, pulling the swords who I realized were attached by a strong invisible string, right into his hands.

He was fast and immediately penetrated through my guard, and I showed a bit sign of panic as the spear was slow to come to me as it broke through the colosseum walls… but then I cracked a smile.

“I know what you’re trying to do… don’t think I’m an idiot-“

BAM

The man’s face crashed against the ground, breaking his nose as I gripped the back of his head, releasing the pulling of my spear.

“Huh? Did you think I could only fight with my spear?” I muttered, grabbing a fistful of hair and bringing him upwards, smashing him against the ground repeatedly until he began to smile pervertedly.

“You’re an asshole,” He grinned before grabbing my arm with one hand and yanking a sword to his other that had fallen to the side.

He swung upwards, but it was already too late as my spear swished through the air, cutting the man’s arm clean off.

I will admit he was probably stronger than me and possibly faster as I could barely react… but if I predicted all of his moves, I could easily win this.

But, just as I was about to smash his face into the ground again, his head snapped towards me, and his eyes began to gleam a dim pink light, so I let go of him while shutting my eyes closed.

My senses were still working, but he was fast, forcing me to rely purely on instinct, an ideal Ares wanted to pound into me, but I just thought that was inconvenient.

The idea of entering a wager you’re not going to win isn’t fun, nor is it safe for my well-being.

“So I’ll reject your ideal by winning this match,” I grinned.